1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic mail (email) processing systems that transfer email sent from a sender terminal to recipient terminals via a network. More particularly, the invention relates to an email processing system that forwards email to recipients by adding predetermined items of user information to the email.
2. Description of the Related Art
The proliferation of the Internet in recent years has promoted email-based data communications among terminals of different types. Email is a simple and quick device of conveying messages, since a message composed on a terminal by a user who can use email can be readily received by one or more recipient terminals once sent to a mail server via the Internet. Today, Internet-capable cellular telephones are among those email-supporting terminals, and many of their users exchange email messages with other cellular telephones, personal computers, and/or other like devices.
In some features provided by prior art email processing systems, when a user includes one or more links such as various addresses in message text, a recipient can activate these links at the recipient terminal. For example, when a function called “Mail To” is used, the recipient user specifies (i.e., clicks on) an email address written on the message text through the recipient terminal to give a reply to that email address immediately. If the recipient terminal is a cellular telephone, a function called “Phone To” can also be available. The recipient user, who is the user of the cellular telephone, similarly specifies a telephone number written on the message text to dial that telephone number immediately. These functions provide recipient terminals with ease for connection to links through a network, and hence make email more useful.
If a sender user utilizes the Phone To function when sending email to a user carrying a cellular telephone, the recipient user can call the sender user without looking up the sender user's telephone number, which is of great convenience. However, the sender user must add telephone number data to message text every time he/she sends email, which is troublesome.
Moreover, if a map information provider site on the Internet is utilized, a recipient user searches for map information corresponding to an address (hereinafter meaning strictly “place of residence” as distinguished from “email address”) written on message text so that a recipient user can have a map image around that address displayed on a recipient terminal. However, the sender user must again add text data representing an address to message text, and go through an operation of searching for map information around the address every time he/she sends email, which is likewise troublesome.
Thus, the prior-art email processing systems have involved time-consuming, troublesome operations of entering telephone numbers, etc. even if sender users utilize various link information-related functions when sending email.